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/ 24 January 2008
Warmer seas and a record hurricane season in 2005 have devastated more than half of the coral reefs in the Caribbean, according to scientists. In a report published on Wednesday, the World Conservation Union warned that this severe damage to reefs would probably become a regular event given current predictions of rising global temperatures due to climate change.
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/ 24 January 2008
Recent power cuts in South Africa have enraged the public, raised questions over future investment in Africa’s biggest economy and increased scepticism in the country’s leaders at a time of political uncertainty. Economists estimate the cost of the power cuts already runs to hundreds of millions of rands.
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/ 24 January 2008
Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton took their escalating war of words to the airwaves on Wednesday, launching radio ads in South Carolina directly attacking each other. Three days ahead of South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary, Clinton aired a radio ad ridiculing Obama’s recent comments.
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/ 24 January 2008
Kenya’s opposition on Wednesday called off mass rallies scheduled for Thursday to protest disputed presidential polls. This was at the request of former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, who is in Kenya to mediate the crisis. Annan was in Nairobi in the latest attempt to mediate the turmoil sparked by the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki last month.
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/ 24 January 2008
Tshwarelo Gakegane’s roots run deep in the melapo of the Okavango Delta. "My mother and father used to hunt buffalo and red lechwe here, and they taught me all about the animals and plants of this area." She is part of an exciting community-participation project that ensures that real benefits from ecotourism flow to the people who live on the land.
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/ 24 January 2008
If your household is an above-average user of electricity, say complete with mod cons such as a swimming pool, jacuzzi, a full suite of appliances, not to mention a bar fridge, a couple of television sets and computers, a geyser or two, the odd gaming console and sexy up- and down-lights, chances are you are paying about R2 000 a month in electricity, writes Kevin Davie.
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/ 24 January 2008
Cigarette packets sold in Nigeria carry a health warning: ”The Federal Ministry of Health warns that cigarette smokers are liable to die young.” But, says the government, this warning has not stopped many Nigerian youngsters from smoking. Taju Olaide says that he was unaware of the warning because he is uneducated and therefore cannot read what is printed on the cigarette packs.
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/ 24 January 2008
”At least they have stopped eating other people, so our work here is done,” a young South African Air Force pilot remarks casually at Kamina in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Katanga province. He is one of a small group of South African pilots and crew stationed at the Kamina Air Base, built in the 1950s by Belgium when the DRC was still known as the Belgian Congo.
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/ 24 January 2008
French bank Société Générale (SocGen) disclosed one of the biggest alleged frauds in financial history on Thursday, adding to a wave of gloom surrounding world markets battered by credit market losses. SocGen, France’s second-biggest listed bank, said it had uncovered an ”exceptional fraud” by one of its traders. It said this would cost the group €4,9-billion.
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/ 24 January 2008
”You will understand that, as a loyal ANC member, I accept the outcome of the conference recently held in Polokwane.It would be a sad day if an ANC resolution reduces our law enforcement capacity,” former justice minister Penuell Maduna tells Adriaan Basson.